Venezuela's Foreign Minister at UN General Assembly: We Have Suffered Countless US Attacks

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil spoke in New York at the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) amid United States’ warmongering rhetoric and military threats against Venezuela.

The Venezuelan representative began his speech on Friday, September 26, by invoking the ideal of the Liberator Simón Bolívar, highlighting it as a paradigm of the liberation of the peoples of Latin America from 300 years of Spanish colonialism.

“We have been a country that learned to fight for its destiny,” he said. “The 20th century began with a blockade and a coup d’état against the nationalist President Cipriano Castro, financed by oil companies and the US government. It was a century of bitter disputes between the ideal of a nation that tried to use its wealth for its development and puppet governments that subordinated the country to foreign governments and imperialist interests.”

However, the situation of domination by imperialism, which resulted in widespread plunder and miser in Venezuelay, changed at the end of the last century, when “a project for an independent, just and sovereign nation” was launched, led by Hugo Chávez, who headed a powerful popular movement “to make a peaceful and democratic revolution.”

“Today, 26 years later, global public opinion and the people of the world know full well everything that the US government did to overthrow Commander Chávez and put an end to the historic project of liberation, successively supported and reaffirmed by the Venezuelan people in 32 elections,” the minister emphasized.

Countless attacks by the empire
The Venezuelan foreign minister reminded those present that with Chávez’s death the empire launched countless attacks against the country, which have intensified over the past decade, “aimed at seizing our natural resources and bringing about regime change.”

“The attacks have been countless: destabilization actions and conspiracies, including an assassination attempt [on President Nicolás Maduro] using drones, the economic war, the cruelest expression of which is the 1,042 criminal sanctions imposed against our oil industry and the nation’s productive sectors, as well as several mercenary incursions,” he recounted.

He also condemned the extrajudicial killings committed by the US Navy in the Caribbean, “an absolutely illegal and totally immoral threat that violates the UN Charter, Venezuela’s rights as a sovereign state, and even US laws.” At the same time, he expressed Venezuela’s gratitude for “the overwhelming solidarity of the majority of governments and peoples of the world, especially the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, the BRICS, and the Non-Aligned Movement, who have repudiated this immorality.”

Lies to invade countries
Highlighting the United States’ use of lies to invade other countries, Gil mentioned the case of Iraq and the non-existent “weapons of mass destruction,” as well as “the bombing and destruction of Libya” and “the 20-year invasion of Afghanistan.”

“The aggression of global powers has not ceased for a moment. Recently, we saw the treacherous and criminal bombing of the peaceful Islamic Republic of Iran. Today, the aggression is aimed at Venezuela, a peaceful nation,” he said, referring to Washington’s deployment of troops and military and naval equipment near the Venezuelan coast to allegedly combat drug cartels.

“Since Venezuela cannot be accused of having weapons of mass destruction or nuclear weapons, today the US invents vulgar and perverse lies that no one believes—neither in the US nor in the world—to justify a multi-million dollar military operation that is atrocious, extravagant, and immoral,” he said.

“But Venezuela reaffirms its Bolivarian vocation for peace and self-determination and fully assumes—based on the United Nations Charter—its right to defend its sovereignty and to defend the peace of the Caribbean and all of South America,” he warned, emphasizing that while “the Venezuelan people love peace, they are also ready to defend it. We are not intimidated by threats, lies, or cannon fire. The love of freedom runs through our veins.”

Another world is possible
Gil emphasized that, following Chávez’s lead, “Venezuela is part of the new multipolar world that has emerged” and “defends, fights, and works for a world of balance, justice, and equality, without colonial empires, and promotes regional integration.”

He noted that the Venezuelan government, led by President Nicolás Maduro, is committed to “building a world of respect for international law, without hegemonic or warring empires,” in which the right to peace and a future for the peoples of the South are guaranteed.

He expressed solidarity with the people of Palestine and demanded “an end to the genocide of the Zionist regime of Israel.” He also condemned “the attacks against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iran” and demanded an end to the “criminal and murderous blockade” imposed by the US on Cuba for more than six decades, as well as the “complete, immediate, and unconditional lifting of unilateral coercive measures against the brotherly peoples of Belarus, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Eritrea, Iran, and Zimbabwe.”

He reaffirmed Venezuela’s support for “President Putin and the noble Russian people in their fight against neo-Nazism and the militaristic aggression of the West,” and for “President Xi Jinping’s initiatives in favor of building a community of shared destiny,” for Argentina’s historic struggle for the recovery of the Malvinas Islands, and for the struggle of the Sahrawi and Puerto Rican peoples for their independence.

“We assert before the world that Venezuela has not been, is not, and will never be a threat to any nation. Venezuela has been, is, and will always be the hope for building a new humanity, a world of equals, without empires, without blackmail or threats, a world where colonialism, slavery, and exploitation disappear forever,” he concluded.

Venezuela’s Foreign Minister Yván Gil Reaffirms Support for Palestine, Defends Latin American Sovereignty

Rising confrontation
Gil’s speech comes after US President Donald Trump threatened Venezuela in his speech at the UN, accusing President Nicolás Maduro of leading a drug-trafficking network, without evidence.

This week, the Venezuelan foreign minister called Washington’s stance against Venezuela a dangerous strategy for the entire region, as it attempts to “legitimize” and “normalize” the use of force in a zone of peace.

“We have a message to the international community: the use of force against a free and sovereign country must be halted,” Gil stated, reiterating that there is a “false narrative” behind the military deployment ordered by Trump.

However, he expressed his certainty that “the world understands” that the “real US objective” is not the fight against drugs, but rather the control of Venezuela’s vast natural resources through siege and intimidation.

On September 12, US military forces invaded Venezuela’s Exclusive Economic Zone and raided a fishing vessel. The crew was detained for several hours, and Venezuela denounced the illegal operation.

In response to the US military’s actions, President Maduro called for the mass enlistment of the people in the Bolivarian National Militia. In addition, the Bolivarian National Armed Force launched the Independence 200 military deployment, and a military readiness exercise was carried out on the island of La Orchila as the country prepares for “a scenario of armed conflict at sea.”

(Alba Ciudad) with editing by Orinoco Tribune

Translation: Orinoco Tribune

OT/JRE/SC